By Lyn Bronson

Halida Dinova

Returning once again to Cabrillo College’s Distinguished Artist Series, pianist Halida Dinova proved, if indeed we needed proof, that she is a full fledged virtuoso pianist capable of the widest range of dynamic and poetic expression, and equally at home in a wide variety of musical styles.

Last night we had an added bonus, the premiere of a new work by Santa Cruz composer Josef Sekon entitled “Dodedafonically.” This work is based on a poem written by Brazilian poet, Maria Davico, who is married to the composer and was present on stage before the performance to read the poem in its original Portuguese.

Composer Sekon stated in an interview, “The Davico poem is really a musical creation—truly words that wanted to become sound.” As we subsequently heard the poem in an English translation read by Distinguished Artists Artistic Director John Orlando and then listened to Dinova’s extraordinary performance, we observed the similarity between the poetic ideas and their musical realization. The words were often discrete and individual thoughts that provoked images nicely rendered in the extraordinary sounds we heard coming from the piano.

“Dodedafonically” is not a work containing an inevitable rhythmic thrust that carries you forward from beginning to end, but rather a work that stops and goes with alternating brilliance and seductive caresses. A difficult work for piano, with its cluster-note trills and bold virtuoso passages in the extreme bass and treble, Dinova played it with passion and charm, and she received a wildly enthusiastic ovation at its conclusion. The composer was called to the stage and embraced Ms. Dinova like a happy papa pleased to witness his creation.

The remainder of the program was a pianistic treat consisting of a wide variety of keyboard treasures. Like a musical sandwich, in between the opening and concluding works — Bach’s “Italian Concerto” and Balikirev’”Islamey,” we heard works by Schubert, Chopin, Debussy, Mendelssohn, Scriabin, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff.

In the Schubert Impromptu, Op. 90, No. 4, and in the Schubert-Liszt Auf dem Wasser zu singen, Dinova showed us how poetically restrained she can be in contrast to some of the virtuoso warhorses that followed. This was lovely playing and a tantalizing foretaste of what we were to hear later in the program.

Some of the most beautiful playing of the evening was in the Scriabin group, where Dinova’s poetic and sensitive playing reveled in both lovely subtle coloring as well as light glittering passages that took your breath away. As a kind of encore to the Scriabin group Dinova played the magnificent Etude in D-sharp Minor, Op. 8, No. 12, as a whirlwind of passionate feelings that stretched the resources of the Steinway concert grand she was playing.

The greatest surprises on the evening’s program were the Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff works, for in these, Dinova was not afraid to take liberties with the dynamics or tempos indicated in the original scores. In the two selections from Tchaikovsky’s “The Seasons” we heard beautiful shaping of phrases, subtle voicing of inner textures, and delicious rubato that was entirely convincing.

Also surprising was Dinova’s treatment of the Rachmaninoff Prelude in E-flat Major, Op. 23, No. 6, and the Prelude in G Major, Op. 32, No. 5, where her rubato was both startlingly original and surprisingly satisfying.

There were, however, times when Dinova’s disregard of the composer’s intentions was not quite so successful. In the Mendelssohn Capriccio, the tempo was so far beyond prestissimo that the piece became a meaningless blur, in the Chopin Polonaise the left hand octave passages were so fast they obscured the right hand’s important melodies, and on the first page of Debussy’s Clair de lune the wayward counting weakened the pulse. It was also puzzling why she began the Rachmaninoff Prelude in G Minor forte, when it was clearly marked by the composer to be played softly in order to build the climaxes on succeeding pages.

We are left with the impression that Dinova is not afraid to impose her preferences over the composer’s, yet it sometimes produces mixed results. We are absolutely convinced that Dinova is a virtuoso with a heart, who can produce the most astonishly beautiful sounds, as long as her virtuoso equipment doesn’t lead her astray along the path of overplaying and exploiting pieces for technical display.

After her concluding performance of Balikirev’s “Islamey” there were no encores, but then why would there be, for she had already played her encores earlier in the program — Debussy’s Clair de lune, Chopin’s A-flat Polonaise and the Scriabin Etude in D-sharp Minor.

End